The Phoenix Suns may have done a nice job of remodelling their roster after the departures of Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal this offseason, but there is still a glaring hole in their starting five. Right now they don't have a true point guard outside of Collin Gillespie - and although he was brought back for a reason - he is going to be a backup next season.
The Suns did also try and convince Chris Paul to come back for what is likely his final campaign in the NBA, and narrowly missed out to the L.A. Clippers. If a 40-year-old is one of your main options though, then that represents a bigger problem. One that the franchise better not try and fix with this free agent who is still available.
Missing out on Marcus Smart made worse by latest intel.
Marcus Smart recently signed with the Los Angeles Lakers - and as Marc Stein reported on his substack after the signing was made official - the Suns also pushed hard to try and secure the former Boston Celtics' point guard's signature. Smart may not be a floor general in the truest sense of the word, but his defensive-minded approach would have meshed well with what the Suns are building.
Also nestled in Stein's reporting was the fact that Smart has been working on his conditioning and wants to prove that he can once again help a winning organization to get even better. That might seem like an obvious statement to make, but it is exactly what the Suns could have used in their own locker-room each night.
Smart clearly has a chip on his shoulder, and he should having been largely forgotten about since being moved by the Celtics. He's a former Defensive Player of the Year, while the team that drafted him went on to win a championship only after they had sacrificed him for their greater goal. That has got to hurt, and it is has clearly motivated the 31-year-old.
Marcus Smart on what it'll be like when Celtics fans see him in a Lakers uniform:
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) July 23, 2025
"I'm expecting a lot of boos, I'm expecting a lot of hate, and it's okay I understand it" pic.twitter.com/gnNPyHI7EC
The Suns aren't going to win a championship next season, but that kind of mentality would have been invaluable to the likes of Gillespie and Ryan Dunn. To say nothing of the fact he would have started for the Suns - which he would have - and given them an underrated table-setter with his 4.6 assists per game for his career so far.
Adding Smart would have also allowed the front office to move away from playing Booker at the one, an experiment they once again seem like they want to try next season. New addition Jalen Green can pile up the points, but defensively he is currently a liability as well. Smart could have masked some of that, and all while having a redemption season for himself personally.
Instead it is the Lakers who will get to profit from that, while the Suns get linked with the likes of Ben Simmons. Even if nothing ultimately comes of that, the fact they're in this situation at all shows you how badly they need a point guard. Smart is going to start the season in amazing condition, and the Suns will think about what might have been.